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Kaiser Chiefs - 'The Angry Mob'

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Fraser McAlpine | 09:42 UK time, Thursday, 16 August 2007

Kaiser ChiefsWell that's a bit better, at least. I know it was a massive massive hit and an iconic song and everything, but 'Ruby' got REALLY old in the end (something to do with those crammed-in words in the verses - like "due to lack of inT'REST, tomorROW is canCELLED") and 'Everything Is Average Nowadays' was just a decent song title in need of a less average song. So, after charming everyone into believing 2006 was 1996 all over again, the concern was that the Kaiser Chiefs were just another bunch of up-themselves indie rockers with only one good idea...the one they borrowed off Blur.

Now, non-Kaisers fans are going to be disappointed if they now rush to the YouTube clip expecting a fresh hip hop direction, or perhaps some splatterbeats and shredding. This is clearly still the same band that did that song about a riot, or the one about loving you less and less.

In fact it's the song about the riot that this song is closest to in spirit. This is becuase there's an actual air of musical drama to the proceedings. Not least in the scary coda - that's the "we are the angry mob" bit - where Ricky Chief pretends to be all Daily Mail readers, while the band do the music equivalent of standing behind him and making "whooooh!" ghosty noises, like off Scooby Do.

This is a good thing, obviously.

And it's a good thing because it takes that happy-go-lucky Kaisers image, and flips it over, exposing a dark heart beating beneath. This is a very different thing to just playing normal Kaisers-type pop music but refusing to smile or go "whooooaaaAAAAAAA!" over the top. That just comes across as undue moodiness.

But there's something about the clear-eyed, calm delivery of the verses and the mournful seriousness of the choruses which suggests that maybe the Chiefs have more than one trick up their sleeve after all.

Although that splatterbeats/hip hop thing might be a go-er after all, when the Britpop well runs dry...

Three starsDownload: Out now
CD Released:
August 20th

(Fraser McAlpine)

Comments

  1. At 12:19 PM on 16 Aug 2007, Lisa K wrote:

    My favourite on 'Yours Truly, Angry Mob' - and the reason why? Because it's catchy, fun and (to me anyway) the sequal to my favourite Kaiser song so far 'I Predict A Riot'. What more could I ask for? 5*

  2. At 03:02 PM on 16 Aug 2007, Val wrote:

    I didn't like this song at first, but my brother just kept playing it and it kind of grew on me.

    I even found myself whistling it this morning...

  3. At 01:48 PM on 18 Aug 2007, Ricky B wrote:

    This is a certain 5 star song. This is possibly the greatest song ive heard in a while. I dont understand why it only has a 3 star?

  4. At 03:07 PM on 22 Aug 2007, Dave wrote:

    a Class song, i thought ruby was the best song from the kaisers but i was wrong when i heard this

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